She’s overweight, drunk, hopelessly messy and singing. Not just humming or quietly singing along, but obnoxiously belting out the lines to “All By Myself,” in her apartment. It can’t seem to get any worse, but it does. She starts dancing and screaming out “I don’t wanna be all by myself.” And it’s only the first five minutes of the movie. That’s how you know it’s going to be good.
Renee Zellweger pulls off a stunning role as Bridget Jones in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” As a 32-year-old single woman living in London, she feels the pressures of marriage and finding a boyfriend.
She makes New Year’s resolutions at the very beginning of the movie, and she starts a diary and promises to quit smoking, drinking, learn to love her thighs and lose that extra 20 pounds.
Smart and slightly off beat, Zellweger manages to accomplish exactly zero of her goals. The goal of one day finding that special someone to call her own seems especially far away.
But then Zellweger finds herself hopelessly entangled in a love triangle between her womanizing boss (Hugh Grant) and a friend of the family (Colin Firth).
But it is not all that the typical love triangle would normally be. Right when it seems that Zellweger has the one she wants, something goes wrong, and it seems that her love life is over. Again.
Imagine yourself in the 10 most embarrassing situations you could possibly think of, and they would all happen to Zellweger in one day.
Despite her flaws, I found myself rooting for her from the very first few moments of the movie. Zellweger definitely does not play the typical lucky in love, beautiful person that seems unbelievable to the rest of us.
Based on Helen Fielding’s novel, the movie simply shows a typical person in everyday life trying to find true love. While she may be more unlucky than the typical girl, she still has the girl-next-door kind of feel that makes you want to stand up in your chair and scream for her when she’s doing good and laugh hysterically when she finds herself in another of her embarrassing situations.
If you’ve been feeling sorry for yourself lately, just imagine accidentally mooning the entire city of London while reporting the news. What makes it even funnier is that Zellweger accepts incidents as part of her life. It doesn’t seem odd to her that something like this would happen to her.
When she shows up wearing a ridiculously silly bunny costume to a party that was not a costume party at all, Zellweger just stays and accepts the fact that she never really fits in anyway.
Even the men fighting for Zellweger can’t act like normal people. In one of the last scenes when Grant and Firth get in a fist fight on the streets of London over her, it’s quite possibly the funniest fight ever.
Instead of lots of hard punches and fast action, you see Grant and Firth pulling hair, wrestling and falling through windows. (If nothing else, it’s worth watching the movie just to see Hugh Grant get in a fight.)
Bridget Jones’s diary is funny, inspiring and heartbreaking. In the middle of laughing, you’ll find yourself wanting to cry. Zellweger pulls off a tremendous role, with perfect timing and a combination of spunk and silliness.
She makes it all believable. The strong performances of Grant and Firth add to the ensemble, creating an enchanting movie that is one to watch over and over.
